Date: 1/6/25 5:34 am From: Don Morrow <donaldcmorrow...> Subject: [NFLbirds] Observing Birds
I went for a walk at Phipps Park on a cool and overcast January morning. I
saw a pair of Carolina Chickadees moving in a shortleaf pine. One chickadee
was hanging upside down searching for seeds in a cone that was not much
larger than itself. The tails of seeds it had already eaten were
helicoptering down in the still morning air. I pulled out my notebook and
logged the feeding observation before moving on.
While watching birds, I have always noticed what they were doing. However,
a few years ago, I started recording and saving my observations of feeding
birds. I decided to note the observations by species and month. So, a
mockingbird eating Yaupon berries on the last day of the month would be one
observation. If I saw the same bird feeding on Yaupon the next day, that
would be a separate observation. I enter the information into an Excel
workbook with two worksheets; one noting bird species and which plants they
feed on by month, and another noting plant species and which birds are
eating their fruits or seeds each month.
I am rapidly approaching 600 observations and have recorded sixty bird
species feeding on sixty-one different plant species.
The data that I have recorded lets me see patterns of bird and plant
behavior over the course of the annual cycle. There is very little feeding
activity during March, April, and May, when most birds are concentrating on
newly-emerged caterpillars. Transiting migrants need the protein to power
their northward journey. Resident birds need the protein to support their
breeding activities. Most plants are early in their annual cycle and are
not producing fruits or seeds. Anyway, they cannot compete against the
available insect prey. Who doesn’t prefer a juicy green caterpillar over
vegetables?
I can see which plants are the most important bird foods. Acorns, pine
seeds and the fruits of cabbage palm are used the most. Other plants with
high usage are black cherry, beautyberry, winged sumac, black gum, Virginia
creeper and wax myrtle.
Some fruits are highly seasonal; black cherry in late summer and Virginia
creeper in Fall migration. Others like acorns and pine seeds provide food
over a long period.
The bird species that I most often see eating fruits and seeds are
Northern Cardinal, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird and Red-bellied
Woodpecker. Although, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red-winged
Blackbird, American Robin, and Eastern Bluebird come in as a second
less-common tier. Most of these birds are generalist feeders and it is not
surprising that they show up in my records.
Flycatchers: Acadian, Great Crested and Eastern Kingbird, feed on Virginia
creeper and other fruits late in summer and into fall migration. Hungry
phoebes add winged sumac and sugarberry to their diets in the winter months.
Warblers show up in my records. Yellow-rumped Warblers eat a lot of fruit
in the winter. Not just wax myrtle, but also winged sumac, cabbage palm,
red cedar, and poison ivy. Pine Warblers eat insects, but supplement their
diet mainly on pine seeds and also snack on black gum, sweetgum, and
cabbage palm.
Wild fruits are important to Fall migrants. Thrushes, grosbeaks, tanagers
and orioles feed on yaupon, cabbage palm, Virginia creeper, black gum and
sweetbay magnolia.
This is not science. I occasionally sit down to watch a tree or bush for
an hour, but it is mostly random observations as I wander through the
woods. It enriches my birding experience. Instead of just what birds did I
see, I have the added dimension of logging feeding records. On my walk this
morning, I had not only twenty-three species of birds, but I also had
chickadees feeding on pine seeds and White-throated Sparrows and Northern
Cardinals eating the dried fruit leather on desiccated beautyberries.
I also caught a falling leaf, something that I have been doing for over
seventy years. It is important to take every opportunity to experience
childlike wonder.
